Chapter 75: The Power of the Mera Mera no Mi, Mutated Beasts Rampaging in Jin Ling

Demon Capital.

"Fire Fist—!"

A scorching wave of fire erupted violently from Lu Jing, a crimson torrent of flames sweeping out like an angry dragon, instantly swallowing the swarm of rats surging forward.

The flame temperature was terrifyingly high; the air warped under the heat. The mutated rats couldn't even scream before being burned to charcoal, turning into a pile of black ash amidst crackling explosions.

"Huff."

Lu Jing gasped for breath, fine sweat beading on his forehead; his spiritual power had run dry. Without a second thought, he pulled a crystal-clear spiritual energy potion from his space ring, bit off the cork, and downed it in one gulp.

As the potion hit his throat, cool spiritual power exploded within his body; his dried-up meridians, like a drought-stricken land meeting sweet rain, quickly filled with spiritual energy.

Although spiritual energy potions are precious, in the face of the people's lives, what does waste matter? Kill as many as you can.

But I must say, the Mera Mera no Mi is actually quite strong.

This isn't to say he thinks the Mera Mera no Mi's upper limit is higher than the Magu Magu no Mi, or even limitless; many people online make sense too—the Mera Mera no Mi isn't the Hito Hito no Mi, the focus is combustion, not just fire.

He didn't care about that; arguing physics with Devil Fruits is simply unreasonable.

Enel's 200 million volts still couldn't melt rubber.

The reason the Mera Mera no Mi is considered strong is that at this current point in time, as an elemental Devil Fruit, the moment he ate it, it granted him immense power.

In fact, this power made him no weaker than Gu Che during their fight; the only reason he didn't win in the end was purely because Gu Che's stamina and self-healing ability were superior to his.

As for potential, though he's reluctant to admit it, the Mera Mera no Mi is indeed inferior to the Azure Dragon Fruit.

But this aspect mainly depends on the user themselves, and he won't pin all his future hopes on a Devil Fruit anyway.

With the dimensional invasion, there are so many treasures across the heavens; he couldn't possibly be satisfied with just obtaining one Devil Fruit.

Lu Jing continued forward, heading toward the location of the mutated rat swarm provided by the Tianshu Bureau on his phone, but as he walked, something appeared before him—no, rather, a very long creature.

"Golden Python?"

"No way, buddy, did you even read the Tianshu Bureau announcement?"

"You don't expect a snake to treat you as its master, do you? No matter how gentle its temperament, it won't work."

"Damn it!"

Lu Jing looked at the snake before him, its body entirely golden with irregular white patterns, and couldn't hold back a curse.

The Tianshu Bureau announcement was so detailed, yet you're keeping a Golden Python at home? Are you really not afraid of death?

Although artificially raised Golden Pythons usually don't attack humans and have gentle temperaments, dogs and cats usually don't attack humans either, yet aren't they everywhere on the streets right now?

"Huff, never mind, talking about this now is useless."

Lu Jing shook his head, his expression turning serious.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss."

The mutated Golden Python gave him no time to think; after a brief coiling, its tail swept horizontally with blinding speed, almost leaving a afterimage. Lu Jing felt the force of the incoming wind, confirming it was purely a physical attack with no energy fluctuations.

"Heh."

He didn't dodge or evade, letting the snake tail pierce straight through his chest!

"Pfft—"

The instant the tail swept through, Lu Jing's body burst into a cloud of scattered flames, then reformed; the mutated Golden Python's vertical pupils narrowed slightly, seeming somewhat confused.

"Even after mutation, your intelligence is still this low."

"You don't even know how to wield spiritual power; you only deserve to be killed by me."

Lu Jing sneered, raising his right hand as flames condensed in his palm into a blazing white spear.

"Next, it's my turn!"

He hurled the flame spear; the mutated Golden Python quickly coiled its body, its metal-like scales hard-blocking the strike.

"Clang!"

The flames exploded, leaving only a charred black mark on the scales.

The mutated Golden Python hissed, its massive body launching forward suddenly, its blood-filled maw biting straight at Lu Jing; Lu Jing elementalized again, his flame body scattering the instant the snake's jaws closed, then reforming atop the python's head as he stomped down!

"Boom!"

The flames burst; the Golden Python's head was crushed heavily into the ground, cracking the asphalt road; but it quickly writhed, its tail whipping toward Lu Jing in mid-air like a steel whip.

Lu Jing flashed, appearing instantly by the snake's vital point seven inches from the head via flame teleportation, slamming both hands onto the scales.

"Flame Explosion!"

"Boom—!"

Scorching flames erupted from within; the mutated Golden Python's body convulsed violently, sparks overflowing from the gaps between its scales; it rolled wildly, sweeping all the vehicles on both sides of the street away, finally collapsing with a painful hiss.

As the flames gradually faded, Lu Jing stood still, unmoving.

He turned his gaze to a corner; in the darkness, rustling sounds were coming from there.

"..."

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly; a guess formed in his mind, but he hoped it wasn't what he thought.

But unfortunately.

In the corner, a pair of cold vertical pupils lit up in the shadows, followed by a second pair, a third pair...

Lu Jing, having confirmed his guess, had a vein bulge on his forehead.

"You really kept more than one pet snake!"

"You'd better not be dead, and you'd better not let me find out who you are."

The first few snakes in the front row had already arched their bodies into an attacking stance.

Flames reignited around Lu Jing, but this time his expression was clearly much more furious, with a distinct gritting-of-teeth quality.

"Otherwise, you're dead!"

He leaped suddenly, his entire body transforming into a blazing meteor that crashed into the center of the snake swarm; surging flames swept out at this moment, incinerating everything around them.

Jin Ling.

"Zi-la—!"

Blinding lightning tore through the night, splitting a massive mutated wild boar in midair; charred chunks of meat crashed down with a boom, landing on the ground.

Lin Lin Ruoxi shook her numb wrist, glancing around with gritted teeth.

Besides the one wild boar she had just killed, six more were staring at her fiercely.

And before this, she had already killed quite a few.

"Why are there so many wild boars in Jin Ling!"

She kicked the head of the mutated wild boar at her feet away, so angry her hair seemed ready to stand on end.

The emergence of massive mutated creatures across regions under the Qi tide was something expected from the start, but she never imagined she would encounter so many mutated wild boars.

One or two would have been fine, but this is way too many.

"Gulu gulu."

Another mutated wild boar charged at her; a cross appeared on Lin Lin Ruoxi's forehead, her right foot crackling with lightning as she leaped up suddenly—

"Boom!!!"

Blinding Lei Guang exploded from Lin Lin Ruoxi's right foot; she descended through the air like a bolt of lightning, crashing down with immense force onto the head of the charging mutated wild boar!

Fierce Lei Ting instantly pierced through the mutated wild boar's entire body; its massive frame stiffened abruptly, its thick fur utterly unable to block this terrifying lightning strike; electricity raged wildly within its body, blood vessels bursting, muscles charred.

"Bang!"

The mutated wild boar crashed heavily to the ground, smoke billowing from its seven orifices, the scent of roasted meat wafting from its body; Lin Lin Ruoxi landed lightly to the side, her right foot still trailing faint sparks of lightning.

"Give me some other mutated creatures, please, no more wild boars."

She felt like crying but had no tears.

(End of this chapter)